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Playing with JGB has been awesome. Melvin is a great player, obviously, and such a mature player. The connections and networking and the people I’ve gotten to play with, and the rooms I’ve gotten to play in, are all so cool, it’s all dream come true stuff. When it comes down to it, I’m a guitarist, and I want to be good at my instrument, and one of the most valuable things is…

It’s not often that venerable guitarist, composer, and bandleader Steve Kimock appeases his hugely loyal fanbase by giving into song requests. Not that Steve overlooks the folks who’ve gone to every damn show since the days of his heralded archetypal band Zero, but for the veteran artist, music is ever-evolving and never about looking…

ALO’s lucky 13th annual Tour d’Amour included a stop in Chico, Calif., in which the band offered an exhilarating illustration of its intelligent, crafty songs, and its extraordinary aptitude toward innovative improvisational instrumentation. “To surround Valentine’s Day, the tour is a celebration of LOVE – musically, communally, and in all of its many forms,” a recent band statement proclaimed…

The Stringdusters weren’t going to be satisfied until every mind at the McDonald was comprehensively blown, and the fifteen-minute “No More to Leave You Behind” whipped the crowd into a glazed, wide-eyed “Whoa!” Even mature, Eugene hippies were shaking their experienced heads. The encore, “Colorado,” provided a pleasant send-off and a circular conclusion to the Dusters’ audacious musical…

This first taste of the night, “Do Harm,” creates a warm swaying with Anders and Paul shining, and then it springs off with an almost surprise ending. Next, Anders had two words for us, and though it seemed early in the night, we were ready for them. Billy Strings. Woot. Billy joined the boys for a smoking “Butcher’s Girl” that found Dave Bruzza and Billy picking in a little huddle with Anders…